Attributable Burden of Hospital-Onset Clostridium difficile Infection: A Propensity Score Matching Study.

Link to article at PubMed

Attributable Burden of Hospital-Onset Clostridium difficile Infection: A Propensity Score Matching Study.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2013 Jun;34(6):588-96

Authors: Tabak YP, Zilberberg MD, Johannes RS, Sun X, McDonald LC

Abstract
Objective. To determine the attributable in-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), and cost of hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection (HO-CDI). Design. Propensity score matching. Setting. Six Pennsylvania hospitals (2 academic centers, 1 community teaching facility, and 3 community nonteaching facilities) contributing data to a clinical research database. Patients. Adult inpatients between 2007 and 2008. Methods. We defined HO-CDI in adult inpatients as a positive C. difficile toxin assay result from a specimen collected more than 48 hours after admission and more than 8 weeks following any previous positive result. We developed an HO-CDI propensity model and matched cases with noncases by propensity score at a 1∶3 ratio. We further restricted matching within the same hospital, within the same principal disease group, and within a similar length of lead time from admission to onset of HO-CDI. Results. Among 77,257 discharges, 282 HO-CDI cases were identified. The propensity score-matched rate was 90%. Compared with matched noncases, HO-CDI patients had higher mortality (11.8% vs 7.3%; [Formula: see text]), longer LOS (median [interquartile range (IQR)], 12 [9-21] vs 11 [8-17] days; [Formula: see text]), and higher cost (median [IQR], $20,804 [$11,059-$38,429] vs $16,634 [$9,413-$30,319]; [Formula: see text]). The attributable effect of HO-CDI was 4.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.2%-8.7%; [Formula: see text]) for mortality, 2.3 days (95% CI, 0.9-3.8; [Formula: see text]) for LOS, and $6,117 (95% CI, $1,659-$10,574; [Formula: see text]) for cost. Conclusions. Patients with HO-CDI incur additional attributable mortality, LOS, and cost burden compared with patients with similar primary clinical condition, exposure risk, lead time of hospitalization, and baseline characteristics.

PMID: 23651889 [PubMed - in process]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *